Writing competition: #SWEEKLOVE!

February 6, 2017

Let’s talk about love! With Valentine’s day slowly approaching and love vibes in the air, it is time for a new Sweek competition. This time for all our love & romance fans: #SWEEKLOVE! Of course, other genres are more than welcome to participate, as long as your story has a love plot!

We asked Sweekers to vote for their favorite theme, and as voting on the topic came really tight (and who are we to limit the choice of a love story? ;)) We’ve decided to give you two topics to choose from! Fiction, non-fiction – we leave it up to you!

Topic 1: Secret love

An ideal topic for all those who have secret crushes, secret relationships, secret passions…you name it! Based on a true story or not, doesn’t matter, as long as it’s a catchy depiction of secret love 😉

Topic 2: Imperfect love

No one is perfect, they say. But is it also the case with love? Most Romance novels are based on the troubles and barriers we have to overcome in our relationships. A perfect love story would indeed be a little boring, right? This topic invites you to tell a compelling tale about love with imperfections: different backgrounds, heated arguments, disapproving families or simply loving against all odds. And of course, imperfection doesn’t mean it can’t be epic!

Duration

6th of February – 15th of March

Prizes

Impress our jury to win the following prizes:

Best story [jury prize]: 1 gift card worth €100

Most popular story [crowd prize]: 1 gift card worth €100

Most original [jury prize]: 1 gift card worth €25

Best plot twist [jury prize]: 1 gift card worth €25

Best writing style [jury prize]: 1 gift card worth €25

Most compelling [jury prize]: 1 gift card worth €25

Best characters [jury prize]: 1 gift card worth €25

Next to these prize winners, we’ll select top stories for each language to be featured on Sweek for 3 weeks. The winners will be announced on the 31st of March on the blog, social media and via email.

Submission guidelines

You need to be 14 years or older to participate. Younger participants need their parents’ permission.

The story can be in English, Spanish, Turkish, German, Dutch, Hindi or Marathi. Writers from all parts of the world are invited to join.

Word limit: up to 10,000 words

The story doesn’t have to be new or exclusive, but needs to be newly uploaded on Sweek

The story didn’t participate in previous Sweek competitions

The story must be created by you

The story must be tagged #sweeklove in story details

The story must be submitted and finished before the deadline: 15/03/17, 23:59 CET

You can participate with multiple entries, as long as they all meet our guidelines

The story can be of any genre, as long as it is related to the topic. It can be a combination of young adult, fantasy, science fiction, poetry etc. with a love plot!

Crowd prize is determined by the number of followers. The deadline for the followers count is: 30/03/17, 23:59 CET. Falsification of followers will lead to a warning, followed by immediate disqualification if the behavior continues.

Prizes will be converted to local currency and given for a webshop that’s available in your country.

It should be added as a tag. Please check this video for instructions:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPP3Lsz2QkY&list=PLYbGF1YPJRjiz2o-N4WhaTXzYqtxfa0Ek&index=1
Otherwise you can add it either in title or description.

Hi Archiee, unfortunately it cannot exceed more than 10,000 words. You can take a fragment of your story though if it still has a good beginning and end. Of course, you can combine both topics into one or upload multiple entries! Good luck :)
iOS app: http://apple.co/2iIPnDV
Android app: http://bit.ly/2k7IjNC
Web platform: https://sweek.com/#/

Hi Rucha, there is no entry fee and there is no minimum number of words. The maximum word limit is 10,000. Good luck and let me know in case of any other questions!
iOS app: http://apple.co/2iIPnDV
Android app: http://bit.ly/2k7IjNC
Web platform: https://sweek.com/#/

Hi Amita, you can indeed use a story that you have published on your blog before. No problem! Good luck :)
iOS app: http://apple.co/2iIPnDV
Android app: http://bit.ly/2k7IjNC
Web platform: https://sweek.com/#/

Hello Aritri, if you are asking whether you can participate by sending your story by e-mail: unfortunately not. You need to create your account on Sweek and upload your story (either via website or the app). Video tutorial explains it step-by-step: http://bit.ly/2kviDha
If you mean something different with your question: please let me know!

Hi! You need to create your account on Sweek and upload your story (either via website or the app) by going to 'my stories' and clicking on 'new story'. First you can fill in story title and description and add a cover, then you click on ‘next’. From the story dashboard you can add a chapter in which you put the text of your story. If you click on ‘publish’, you can fill in the story details and you put ‘#sweeklove’ as a tag. Or you can also include it in your story description. We have a video tutorial that explains it step-by-step: http://bit.ly/2kviDha . Good luck and let us know in case of any other questions!

Hi Esther, yes, that's allowed. We have a rule that the story that you upload should be your own, in order to exclude copyrighted texts. However, if you have consent from your co-writer; that's no problem and you can upload it for your friend!

Does it have to be a romantic love? Or can people write about love in general, like love between sisters, love between a master and student, or family or loving an animal or any kind? By love, I understood and mean "to love someone-something". Even though I think answer will be negative, I really hope you don't limit love. Thank you! ^^

With the way that the requirements for the crowd prize are, doesn't it depend on how popular you are on sweek? Because if you just started out on this platform or if you're not very known, doesn't that mean that you are at a disadvantage?

You can choose any username on Sweek which you like, it doesn't need to be your actual name. We might use your story at one point on our social media, but again, if you'd like to have your name hidden, choose a username to reflect that :)

You need to be 14 years or older to participate. Younger participants need their parents’ permission.
I am 16 years old. Do I require my parent's permission? If yes, then how? Or what do you mean by that?

Hi Allie,
If you'd like to compete for the crowd prize, then you need to get your follower base. In that case you might want to share the link among your network. For the jury prize it is not necessary per se.

Hi! You can copy it from a PDF or word document that you have and paste it in the Sweek text editor. If you only have it as a picture, I'm afraid you have to type it. Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions!

Hi Bhawna, you can use stories that you've entered in other competitions or published elsewhere - no problem. However, it couldn't have entered in a previous Sweek competition. Good luck and let us know in case of any questions!

Hi there, have you already checked out our tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPP3Lsz2QkY? :) You can add it in your story details as a tag, or somewhere in your title or description. Let me know whether everything works out :)

Hey, i submitted my story as an entry to sweeklove on 15 march, 2017. However, today, while trying to open the story for reading, i accidentally opened it in the story editor. It now shows the date of publishing as 16 march. I hope i still qualify for the contest?